Several dozen activists blocked the entrance hall of the Géopolis building at the University of Lausanne on Thursday afternoon. They demand in particular an academic boycott of Israeli institutions.
In the wake of student protests which are gaining momentum on campuses in the United States, Canada and France, around forty demonstrators peacefully occupy this building. Palestinian flags have been displayed on the ground and the protest is currently taking place calmly, shouting slogans such as “Free Palestine”.
>> Read also: The pro-Palestinian movement spreads on American campuses, negotiations are underway
Those present are generally demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire throughout the Palestinian territory, the immediate restoration of UNRWA funding and even “an end to the repression against the Palestine solidarity movement”.
This blockage comes as the first in a series of two public courses on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to be held on Thursday evening, in another Unil building. These two courses were contested by two associations (read box).
Swiss universities accused of “complicity”
“Our action is spontaneous and has no leader or leader,” they explain in a press release sent to the media. “The people occupying the university building refuse to be complicit in the colonial genocide perpetrated by the Israeli apartheid regime. We call on everyone to join us and for members of other universities and colleges to mobilize as well!”
In Switzerland too, universities and colleges “participate in the carnage” through “multiple agreements between our institutions which allow and encourage mobility from or to Israel”, they believe, citing in particular the scientific and technological research consortium EuroTech Universities Alliance, of which EPFL is a member but also the Israeli Technion institute, which maintains close links with the Israeli army.
Comparison with reactions to the invasion of Ukraine
Activists believe that these Israeli universities participate in the “legitimization of the apartheid regime and the perpetuation of colonization and oppression”. “Far from being bastions of democracy and critical thinking, these institutions maintain close ties, often financial, with the occupying army”, with research “deliberately oriented towards the arms industry”, write -they still in the press release.
They therefore ask, among others, the University of Lausanne to develop a list of ongoing collaborations with Israeli institutions, their immediate interruption until Israel respects a permanent ceasefire and international law, or a “proactive policy of welcoming and supporting Palestinian students and researchers, similar to what was put in place following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army”.
>> The interview in Forum with Olivier Fillieule, professor at the University of Lausanne and specialist in the sociology of social movements:
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